Spiders, Slugs & Scorpions, Oh My! CLASS READINGS STUDY: A Few Common Spiders of Bouverie Preserve Trail Card Common Spiders of Bouverie Preserve Turret Spider Natural History California Turret Spider (Pacific Discovery, Leonard Vincent, 1997) 5 Cool Things About Banana Slugs & Earthworms (Gwen Heistand) Love Darts (Carl Zimmer) Scorpions (Jeanne Wirka) Fallen Log Decomposition & Soil Food Web Soil Macro & Microfauna Female false tarantula disturbed In Praise of Spider Silk (Mae Won Ho) near her burrow. Key Concepts By the end of class, we hope you will be able to Practice spider observation techniques in the field Make spiders, slugs, scorpions, spiders, snails, (misting, mirrors, tuning forks), ticks and earthworms – oh my! – fascinating to 3rd and 4th graders, Know where to find scorpions at Bouverie and share a few fun facts while reassuring students Understand that some animals have skeletons on that the sting is painful but NOT deadly, the inside and some have skeletons on the outside; some have no skeletons and some use Get students thinking about banana slugs and water to support their body structure (hydrostatic earthworms with some cool facts to encourage skeletons), questions, Have a good idea where to locate and how to Know what to expect if you kiss a banana slug identify different types of spiders in the field [optional!], including turret spiders on the Canyon Trail, Know what happens if you run an earthworm Become familiar with cool information that you through your lips [also optional], and can share about any spider you find … silk, web construction, prey capture, Know what to do about tick bites. Resources In the Bouverie Library Elizabeth Shepard, No Bones (1988). Includes a dichotomous key to common invertebrates, including insects, spiders, ticks, scorpions, pill bugs, etc. Herbert & Lorna Levi & Nicholas Strekalovsky, A Golden Guide: Spiders and Their Kin (2001 ). This is one of the Golden Guides that is helpful . it’s small and includes many of the spiders we have here. Rainer F. Foelix, The Biology of Spiders (1982). Harvard University Press. This is an all round good book on spider biology – it can get technical and it’s a fascinating read. Alice Bryant Harper, The Banana Slug (1988) Great pictures and good information. Paul Hillyard, The Private Lives of Spiders (2007). Large picture book with some good info and great photos. Rod Preston‐Mafham, The Book of Spiders and Scorpions (1991). Another large book with great pictures and good descriptions of mating, spider biology, ballooning, and more. Roger Drummond, Ticks and What You Can Do About Them (1998). A good little book that talks about different ticks, what they carry, and what you can do about them. Online Spider Myths – Myths, Misconceptions, and Superstitions about Spiders. A fun website maintained by the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington: http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth World Spider Catalogue maintained by the American Museum of Natural History at http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: http://www.xerces.org SEQUOIA CLUB Trail Tip Share some new ways to look at spiders, to help students find them more cool than scary. Some cool facts: * Most spiders have venom, not poison. Venoms work by being injected, unlike “poisons”, which are substances that are harmful when eaten, breathed, or touched. * The purpose of spider venom is to subdue the spider’s prey, almost always insects. In brief, it’s an insecticide. Spider venom did not evolve to harm creatures like us humans, who are too big for spiders to eat. In nearly all cases, spider venom has little if any effect on humans. But use a bug box to [gently] capture and examine them! * Although usually associated with webs, not all spiders make a silk web to capture prey. BP resident crab spiders and wolf spiders do not weave webs. * But all spiders can produce silk in one form or another. And most have several glands producing different kinds of silk. Even those that do not weave webs use their silk for other purposes, such as wrapping prey, lining burrows, making egg cases, ballooning for dispersal, building shelters, & more. * Finally, look carefully at orb webs. Their planes are usually not perfectly vertical. Note, too, that the spider usually hangs out on the side facing downward. When threatened or disturbed, it can drop straight down by “bungee jumping” on a strand of silk! A Few Common Spiders at Bouverie Preserve Mygalomoprh (“primitive”) Spiders Orb Weavers Turret Spider (Atypoides sp.) •Turret of stiff silk (right) •Added to each year •Up to 8” long •Can go 6 months without f food! •Can molt to get smaller! egg case False Tarantula Missing Triangle (Calisoga longitarsus) Spider hangs head down in Look for silk-lined (Zygiella sp.) center of web’s burrows in middle of stabilimentum trails; almost perfect Yellow & Black Garden Spider circles (right); after first (Argiope aurantia) rains evidence of “spring cleaning.” Common on Josephine’s Trail. Cribellate Spiders (produce fine hackle silk that “snaps”) Debris Spider (Cyclosa conica) -line of debris down center of Labyrinth (Condo) Spider web; old prey items, plant parts (Metepiera sp.) -spider is concealed in debris -orb web with messy portion -she hides her eggs there too -retreat is in messy portion -constructs lens-shaped False Widow egg sacs in retreat area Badumna sp. (Steatoda grossa) Cellar Spider These 4 spiders can be found around and on -inside buildings buildings, in electrical and fire hose cabinets and cabinets Triangle Spider (Uloborus sp.) -touch web and •Spider is part of web! watch it vibrate! •When she senses prey, she releases tension thread and triangle collapses Sheet Web Weavers (look for these spiders in the Filmy DomeSpider Black Widow House Spider redwoods under the heronry) (Prolinyphia marginita) (Latrodectus hesperus) (Achaearanea tepoidariorum) -often in large groups -found near creeks Hunting Spiders (no webs) -spider sits under apex of dome Trail Card originally Bowl and Doily Spider prepared by Gwen (Frontinella pyramiitela) Heistand . Modified Crab Spider (w/ prey) -spider hangs out on for Bouverie by Jeanne Wolf Spider (w/ egg sac) Family Thomisidae) Jumping Spider underside of “bowl” Wirka 02/2010 (Family Lycosidae) Camouflaged sit and (Family Salticiade) -pulls prey through top web to wrap Runs to catch prey wait predator Jumps at prey from above -look on Loop Trail near Redwood Circle ACR Natural History Notes: Turret Spiders Page 1 Turret Spider (Atypoides riversi) The Turret Spider is native to Northern California and is part of the larger family of "Folding Trapdoor Spiders" that live in self-made burrows dug into the ground. Folding Trapdoor Spiders like the ones we have elsewhere on the preserve, use the door at the entrance to their burrow to make surprise attacks. Turret Spiders do not construct doorways to their burrows and will leave their burrows open all day long (but can pull them shut when it rains). Turret Spiders are found outdoors and mostly limited to wooded areas that include pine and Douglas fir forests. Some make their homes near banks of moving water sources. At MGP we have some that are at the edge of mixed evergreen and grasslands that use grasses in the turrets as opposed to needles. Turret spiders have poor eyesight. They capture their prey (millipedes, ants, beetles, and other invertebrates) by sensing vibrations. When vibrations are perceived, the spider lunges from its burrow, gripping the turret lip with its last pair of legs. The spider injects the prey with venom and drags it into its burrow. Q: What’s the deal with the turrets? A: Turrets are stiffened silk connected to a long silk-lined burrow in which the spider lives. Douglas fir needles, dirt, leaves, and twigs are incorporated into the turret and act as trip-lines. At dusk, the spider sits at the edge awaiting victims. Q: How do Turret Spiders make their burrows? A: Turret Spiders have spines (rastella) on the sides of their chelicerae (the mouthparts where you find their fangs). The spider uses these spines like a digging rake to loosen and move earth. She also uses her fangs and the muscles at the base of her fangs. Once there is enough loose dirt in the burrow for removal, the spider will spin some silk around it and haul it out (another amazing use of spider silk!). Version: January 16, 2014 Prepared by Gwen Heistand for ACR Education ACR Natural History Notes: Turret Spiders Page 2 Q: How often do these spiders need to eat? A: As often as they can … AND they can wait six months without eating. They may even shed their skin to get smaller if need be! Wouldn’t it be great if we could molt down a couple of sizes!!! Q: If turret spiders live in burrows, how do they find each other when they want to mate? A: A female turret spider may spend her entire life in the same burrow, enlarging it as she grows. When a male is of reproductive age (8-9 years old), he leaves his burrow in search of a gal. He is guided by a pheromone (a special chemical attractant) that the female releases and by the distinguishing pattern of silk around her burrow. Once he has mated, he is not long for the world. Q: Where does the female make her egg sac and what happens to the kids? A: The eggs are laid in the burrow, in a cocoon attached to the silk lining. Hatchlings look like miniature versions of their mother and stay with her for several weeks. (picture: female in burrow with spiderlings) Q: When you find a largeish turret, you very often see a bunch of smaller ones around it.